Magazine says people in Dallas are lazy and eat like pigs

Houston loves to eat. We’re proud of our Zagat status as the U.S. city that dines out the most, and keeping track of the city’s restaurant scene is a obsession.

But compared to The Big D, we must be ordering from the healthy side of the menu. The editors of Prevention magazine reviewed the numbers, and came up with a list of the top 8 artery-clogging cities. Dallas? It ranked No. 5. Houston didn’t rate.

So what’s wrong with the Metroplex? Prevention notes:

According to Sandelman and Associates, a restaurant industry consultancy, Dallas residents consume fast food an average of 20.7 times per month (the national average is 17), no doubt one reason for their high rates of heart disease and obesity. Another contributing factor: Despite its big city status, only 7% of Dallas residents’ trips are taken by foot or bike, according to the Alliance for Biking and Walking.

Why did Houston miss the list? It’s not our eating habits: Zagat says Houstonians eat out more than Dallas (4.2 times per week, 30 percent greater than the national rate, compared to only 4 times a week for Dallas). So maybe it’s our buff bodies: the numbers we uncovered from the biking-walking group say 2.2 percent of trips in Houston are on foot, and 0.3 percent are by bike, compared to lazy Dallas’ 1.4 percent on foot and 0.2 percent by bike.

Still, it could be worse. Prevention ranked Lubbock No. 3 on the list for its 32 percent obesity rate among adults. Learn from our example, Lubbock!